20 Nov 2023

About 5 000 hectares of land have been secured from the Kweneng District for the expansion of Gaborone. 

This was revealed by the Minister of Lands and Water Affairs, Dr Kefentse Mzwinila on November 17 when responding to a question from Gaborone Central MP, Mr Tumisang Mangwegape-Healy.

Dr Mzwinila indicated that his ministry had included Gaborone expansion as one of the deliverable of the Gaborone Region Master Plan, which was currently at procurement stage.

The plan preparations is expected to be completed by March 2025.

He also said the process of state and allocation involved several stages and process starting with land acquisition for expansion, which he said was a lengthy and costly process that involved stakeholders’ consultation and negotiations with and owners.

“After that process the land then undergoes planning where it is demarcated into various uses such as residential, commercial and industrial and this process as well involves extensive stakeholders’ consultations and approval by district structures. Then follows surveying and consequently provision of infrastructure services and allocations,” he said.

He also said a decision was taken by government to allocate unserviced land in tribal areas, but with particular reference to Gaborone, the ministry was currently preparing a Regional Spatial Plan, which was currently at procurement stage.

He said one of the objectives of the spatial plan was to identify both brownfield and greenfield sites to meet the land demand as per the population projection of the region, including Gaborone. “Further to this, my ministry together with the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development is preparing Gaborone City Development Plan (2022-2026), which is at draft development plan stage,” he said.

Dr Mzwinila also informed Parliament that the last plot allocation in Gaborone was in 2014 at Tsholofelo Extension, where 559 residential plots were allocated, while the last cohort applied for land in 1990.

“The average waiting period for land allocation in Gaborone is currently 33 years, and although I cannot state the exact year the next allocations in Gaborone will be done, an area west of Block 8 has been identified for the expansion of the city. The land is however, still to be planned, surveyed and serviced,” he said.

He also said the current waiting list for Gaborone stood at 17 954.

He said that slow allocations in Gaborone were due to various factors, including lack of readily available land, and that government was not allocating or selling unserviced land like private developers because such a move delayed plot development.

Mr Mangwegape-Healy had wanted to know when the last plot allocation in Gaborone was done, as well as the number of plots allocated and the year the last cohort applied for land.

He also enquired on the average waiting period for land allocations in Gaborone and when the next allocations could be expected and how many plots it would yield.

Mr Mangwegape-Healy also wanted clarification on the number of people on the waiting list in Gaborone, and what accounted for the slow allocation, and reasons that government was not allocating or selling unserviced plots like private developers did in freehold areas given the high demand. ENDS